HYYPIA PLEASED TO GET BACK TO WINNING WAYS

5 November 2014

Paul Camillin

Sami Hyypia last night admitted his relief at getting back to winning ways after his side's hard-fought and 'important' 1-0 win over Wigan at the Amex ended a run of 11 Championship matches without victory.

Albion haven't been easy to beat during that run, and have lost just twice in their last nine league matches, but Hyypia said nothing beats winning.

He told seagulls.co.uk, "It’s nice to win again. It’s an important one for the whole group: the players, the coaching staff, the whole club and the fans.

"The way it came wasn't the best this season but I'm happy that I didn't have to say we played well but didn't get points.

"Everyone concentrated on their job on the pitch and we came out as winners. Now we need to carry that into the next game which is coming up quickly on Saturday and we need to be ready for that.

"Clean sheets are important and I want to keep a clean sheet in every game, but of course football is about other things as well as defending.

"When we have to defend we need to be very focussed on defending; when we get the ball we should be able to play the football that we know we can. The balance of finding both is very important."
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Meanwhile Hyypia said the addition of Greg Halford provides options, in addition to defensive cover - with Aaron Hughes ruled out with injury and Gordon Greer and Lewis Dunk both one caution away from a ban.

"I know he can play in other positions, but Aaron Hughes is injured and the other defenders are on four yellow cards. Hopefully those yellows don't come in the same game and then we would lose both of them.

"With Aaron, his injury looks more positive than negative so he'll be back soon, but it's going to take some weeks. We can't be exact, as the swelling is still there so he can't have a scan yet as you can't see through the swelling."